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The Lost Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon, Volume I

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ISBN 978-1-4336-8681-8


Collector’s EditionCloth over Boards • 7x10

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COMING MARCH 2017

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The Lost Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon, Volume 1 Copyright © 2016 by Christian George and Spurgeon’s College Published by B&H Academic Nashville, Tennessee

All rights reserved.

Standard Edition ISBN: 978-1-4336-8681-8 Collector’s Edition ISBN: 978-1-4336-4908-0

Dewey Decimal Classification: 252 Subject Heading: SPURGEON, CHARLES H. \ SERMONS \ CHRISTIAN LIFE–SERMONS

Special thanks to Spurgeon’s College, spurgeons.ac.uk

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scriptures marked ESV are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV® Text Edition: 2011. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduc-tion of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change.

The marbled paper for the cover of the collector’s edition was created by Lesley Patterson-Marx, lesleypattersonmarx.com Interior Design by Roy Roper, wideyedesign

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For the rising generation of pastors, scholars, students, and all to whom Spurgeon—though being dead—still speaks


Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiEditor’s Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvAcknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiiiAbbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxixTimeline 1800–1910 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxi

PA RT 1: Introduct ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

A Man of His Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10A Man Behind His Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16The Lost Sermons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Sources and Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Sermon Analysis: Notebook 1 (Sermons 1–77) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

PA RT 2: T he Sermons, Notebook 1 (Sermons 1–77) . . . 48

Front Cover of Notebook 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Opening Pages of Notebook 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Notebook Index 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Skeletons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Sermon 1 Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Sermon 2 Necessity of Purity for an Entrance to Heaven . . . . . 76Sermon 3 Abraham Justifi ed by Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Sermon 4 A Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Sermon 5 Condescending Love of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Sermon 6 Future Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Sermons 7 & 77 Regeneration and The Lepers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Sermon 8 Final Perseverance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Sermon 9 Sinners Must Be Punished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Sermon 10 Election . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Blank Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Sermon 11 Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

CONTENTS

Skeletons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sermon 1 AdoptionSermon 2 Necessity of Purity for an Entrance to HeavenSermon 3 Abraham Justifi ed by FaithSermon 4 A ContrastSermon 5 Condescending Love of Jesus Sermon 6 Future JudgmentSermons 7 & 77 Regeneration and The LepersSermon 8 Final Perseverance Sermon 9 Sinners Must Be Punished Sermon 10 Election Blank Page Sermon 11 Salvation

xi xv xxiii xxix xxxi

1

10 16 22 29 34

48

49 50 54 60 66 76 80 86 90 94 98 106 112 120 126 128

ix


Sermon 12 Death, the Consequence of Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Sermon 13 Free Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Sermon 14 God’s Grace Given to Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Sermon 15 Christ About His Father’s Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Sermon 16 Love Manifest in Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Sermon 17 Christian and His Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Sermon 18 God’s Sovereignty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Sermon 19 An Answer Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Sermon 20 The Plant of Renown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Sermon 21 Making Light of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Sermon 22 Christ Is All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Sermon 23 Faith Precious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Sermon 24 Salvation in God Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Sermon 25 The Peculiar People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Sermon 26 Despisers Warned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Sermon 27 Paul’s Renunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Sermon 28 Heaven’s Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Sermon 29 Beginning at Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Sermon 30 Salvation from Starvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Sermon 31 Ignorance, Its Evils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Sermon 32 The Wrong Roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226Sermon 33 Salvation from Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Sermon 34 The Lamb and Lion Conjoined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234Sermon 35 The Path of the Just . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238Sermon 36 Certain Fulfi lment of Promises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Sermon 37a The Fight and the Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Sermon 37b The Fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Sermon 38 The Son’s Love to Us Compared with God’s Love to Him . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Sermon 39 Pharisees and Sadducees Reproved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262Sermon 40 Christian Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266Sermon 41 God’s Estimation of Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270Sermon 42 King of Righteousness and Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276Sermon 43 Jesus, the Shower from Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Sermon 44 Elijah’s Faith and Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284Sermon 45 The Authors of Damnation and Salvation . . . . . . . . . 288Sermon 46 Regeneration, Its Causes and Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292Sermon 47 The Father and the Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Sermon 12 Death, the Consequence of Sin Sermon 13 Free Grace Sermon 14 God’s Grace Given to Us Sermon 15 Christ About His Father’s Business Sermon 16 Love Manifest in Adoption Sermon 17 Christian and His Salvation Sermon 18 God’s SovereigntySermon 19 An Answer Required Sermon 20 The Plant of Renown Sermon 21 Making Light of Christ Sermon 22 Christ Is All Sermon 23 Faith Precious Sermon 24 Salvation in God Only Sermon 25 The Peculiar People Sermon 26 Despisers Warned Sermon 27 Paul’s Renunciation Sermon 28 Heaven’s PreparationsSermon 29 Beginning at JerusalemSermon 30 Salvation from StarvationSermon 31 Ignorance, Its EvilsSermon 32 The Wrong RoadsSermon 33 Salvation from SinSermon 34 The Lamb and Lion Conjoined Sermon 35 The Path of the JustSermon 36 Certain Fulfi lment of PromisesSermon 37a The Fight and the WeaponsSermon 37b The FightSermon 38 The Son’s Love to Us Compared with God’s Love to HimSermon 39 Pharisees and Sadducees ReprovedSermon 40 Christian JoySermon 41 God’s Estimation of MenSermon 42 King of Righteousness and PeaceSermon 43 Jesus, the Shower from HeavenSermon 44 Elijah’s Faith and PrayerSermon 45 The Authors of Damnation and SalvationSermon 46 Regeneration, Its Causes and EffectsSermon 47 The Father and the Children

134 138 142 148 152 156 160 164 170 176 182 186 190 196 200 204 208 212 218 222 226 230 234 238 242 246 252

256 262 266 270 276 280 284 288 292 298

x

C O N T E N T S


Sermon 48 Intercession of the Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302Sermon 49 The Eloquence of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306Sermon 50 Repentance and Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312Sermon 51 Christian Prosperity and Its Causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316Sermon 52 He Took Not Up Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322Sermon 53 Pleasure in the Stones of Zion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328Sermon 54 The Little Fire and Great Combustion . . . . . . . . . . . . 334Sermon 55 Rest for the Weary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342Sermon 56 God Glorifi ed in the Saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346Sermon 57 The Affl iction of Ahaz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352Sermon 58 The Wise Men’s Offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358Sermon 59 The First Promise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368Sermon 60 The Peace of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372Sermon 61 The Improvement of Our Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378Sermon 62 God, the Guide of His Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384Sermon 63 Gethsemane’s Sorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392Sermon 64 Parable of the Bad and Good Seed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398Sermon 65 Trust Not the Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404Sermon 66 Josiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408Sermon 67 Offending God’s Little Ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412Sermon 68 The Saints’ Justifi cation and Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416Sermon 69 Imitation of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420Sermon 70 The Men Possessed of the Devils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426Sermon 71 What Think Ye of Christ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434Sermon 72 An Exhortation to Bravery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442Sermon 73 Slavery Destroyed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448Sermon 74 The Physician and His Patients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452Sermon 75 The Church and Its Boast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462Sermon 76 Can Two Walk Together Unless They Are Agreed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Notebook Index 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478Doxology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484Back Cover of Notebook 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489About the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491About the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493Scripture Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Sermon 48 Intercession of the SaintsSermon 49 The Eloquence of JesusSermon 50 Repentance and SalvationSermon 51 Christian Prosperity and Its CausesSermon 52 He Took Not Up AngelsSermon 53 Pleasure in the Stones of ZionSermon 54 The Little Fire and Great CombustionSermon 55 Rest for the WearySermon 56 God Glorifi ed in the SavedSermon 57 The Affl iction of AhazSermon 58 The Wise Men’s OfferingSermon 59 The First PromiseSermon 60 The Peace of GodSermon 61 The Improvement of Our TalentsSermon 62 God, the Guide of His SaintsSermon 63 Gethsemane’s SorrowSermon 64 Parable of the Bad and Good SeedSermon 65 Trust Not the HeartSermon 66 JosiahSermon 67 Offending God’s Little OnesSermon 68 The Saints’ Justifi cation and GlorySermon 69 Imitation of GodSermon 70 The Men Possessed of the DevilsSermon 71 What Think Ye of Christ?Sermon 72 An Exhortation to BraverySermon 73 Slavery DestroyedSermon 74 The Physician and His PatientsSermon 75 The Church and Its BoastSermon 76 Can Two Walk Together Unless They Are Agreed?

302 306 312 316 322 328 334 342 346 352 358 368 372 378 384 392 398 404 408 412 416 420 426 434 442 448 452 462

470

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C O N T E N T S


Autobiography C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography. Compiled from His Diary, Letters, and

Records, by His Wife, and His Private Secretary. 4 vols. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1899–1900. The Spurgeon Library.

Lectures Lectures to My Students: A Selection from Addresses Delivered to the Students

of the Pastors’ College, Metropolitan Tabernacle. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1893. The Spurgeon Library.

MTP The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit: Sermons Preached and Revised by

C. H. Spurgeon. Vols. 7–63. Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1970–2006.

Notebook Spurgeon Sermon Outline Notebooks. 11 vols. Heritage Room, Spurgeon’s College, London. K1/5, U1.02.

NPSP The New Park Street Pulpit: Containing Sermons Preached and Revised

by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, Minister of the Chapel. 6 vols. Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1970–2006.

ST The Sword and the Trowel; A Record of Combat with Sin & Labour for

the Lord. 37 vols. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1865–1902. The Spurgeon Library.

TD C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Containing an Original Exposition

of the Book of Psalms; A Collection of Illustrative Extracts from the Whole

Range of Literature; A Series of Homiletical Hints Upon Almost Every Verse;

And Lists of Writers Upon Each Psalm. 7 Vols. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1869–1885. The Spurgeon Library.

ABBREVIATIONS

xxxi


A M A N of HIS T I ME

Three men named Charles ascended to prominence in the nineteenth century—Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and Charles Spurgeon. Each popularized his profession, and although they likely never met,1 they

became paragons of Victorian literature, science, and preaching. A motley “unicorn carman” had been harnessed, and together they would tug the century into an age of optimism and skepticism.

Spurgeon was twenty-one years old when his first biography was written.2 By the end of 1857, both sides of the Atlantic knew his name.3 By the end of the decade,

1 For Spurgeon’s citation of Dickens, see C. H. Spurgeon, The Soul-Winner; or, How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1895), 98. For Dickens’s citation of Spurgeon, see Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices; No Thoroughfare; The Perils of Certain English Prisoners [London: Chapman and Hall, 1890], 7, 22, and 92). Spurgeon owned nearly twenty novels by Dickens in his personal library, including Christmas Stories, Little Dorrit, Great Expectations, Bleak House, and The Adventures of Oliver Twist. The light pencil markings in Sketches by Boz might have belonged to Spurgeon (see “Black Sheep! by the Author of ‘Land at Last,’ ‘Kissing the Rod,’ &c., &c., Book III, Chapter III, On the Balcony,” All the Year Round, a Weekly Journal Conducted by Charles Dickens [December 29, 1866, The Spurgeon Library], 1–4).

2 See Magoon (ed.), ‘The Modern Whitfield,’ v–xxxvi. 3 “[Spurgeon] stands in a lofty pulpit, and already has a nation for his audience!” (“Spurgeon, by Theodore

L. Cuyler,” Kalamazoo Gazette, [November 13, 1857]).

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A M A N O F H I S T I M E

he had become the most popular preacher in the world.4 Spurgeon’s baritone voice was described as “clear and ringing as a bell”5 and could reach audiences of 3,000 or 23,000.6 He was compared to George Whitefi eld,7 Henry Ward Beecher,8 and John Albert Broadus.9 An American schoolboy once assumed Spurgeon was the prime minister of England.10

Spurgeon’s popularity in the pulpit was matched by his productivity in the press. His Sunday morning sermons were published in The New Park Street Pulpit and The

Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit and eventually totaled sixty-three volumes.11 In 1917, a shortage of paper caused by World War I prevented the further publication of his weekday sermons. Spurgeon also published a monthly magazine, approximately 140 books, and his magnum opus, a commentary on the Psalms entitled The Treasury of

4 This claim was reported by numerous newspapers, including “The Beginning of the World,” The South-Western (June 15, 1859). A newspaper in Wales claimed Spurgeon was “the most popular preacher of the present generation” (“The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon’s First Visit to Wales,” The Cardiff Times and Newport and South Wales Advertiser [July 23, 1859]). According to the Louisville Daily Courier, Spurgeon had “been heard by more people in the last few years than any other living preacher” (Louisville Daily Courier [May 15, 1858]).

5 Eclectic Review (Vol. XII—New Series, London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder; Edinburgh: W. Oliphant and Son; Aberdeen: G. and R. King; Glasgow: G. Gallie; and Manchester: Bremner, January–June, 1867), 359. The Liverpool Daily Post claimed “one of his chief qualifi cations was a voice of bell-like clearness and wonderful resonancy” (“Mr. Spurgeon,” [September 6, 1870]).

6 On October 7, 1857, Queen Victoria sanctioned a national day of prayer in which Spurgeon addressed an audience of 23,654 people at the Crystal Palace. See footnotes in “Making Light of Christ” (Sermon 21) and in “The Peace of God” (Sermon 60). See also Arthur Christopher Benson and Viscount Esher, eds., The Letters of Queen Victoria: A Selection from Her Majesty’s Correspondence Between the Years 1837 and 1861, Published by Authority of His Majesty the King (London: John Murray, 1908; repr., Teddington, UK: The Echo Library, 2010), 3:227.

7 E. L. Magoon included Spurgeon’s response: “I have been puffed off as being a Whitfi eld, the greatest preacher of the age, which certainly I am not, and never professed to be” [Magoon (ed.) ‘The Modern Whitfi eld,’ xxvi]. See also Spurgeon’s use of Whitefi eld in his sermon “What Think Ye of Christ?” (Sermon 71).

8 “Compared with Mr. Beecher, Mr. Spurgeon is more religious, more spiritual, less profound, less of the philosopher, but more of the saint. Beecher is like Shakespeare, or any other great social philosopher, while Spurgeon is like John Bunyan. You may go away from Beecher impressed with the greatness of the man; you go away from Spurgeon, impressed with the searching greatness of the Gospel” (W. W. Barr, ed., The Evangelical Repository and United Presbyterian Worker [First Series, Vol. LI.—Fourth Series, Vol. I, Philadelphia, PA: Young and Ferguson, 1874], 301). See also “An American View of Spurgeon,” The Boston Recorder (September 2, 1858) and “The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon,” The Essex Standard (April 18, 1855).

9 “Broadus was more like Spurgeon and [Alexander] Maclaren than any of the others. He lacked Spurgeon’s intensity of experience in a continued pastorate, but he surpassed Spurgeon in Biblical learning and general culture” (A. T. Robinson, The Minister and His Greek New Testament [Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011], 139).

10 Rev. O. P. Gifford, pastor of Warren Avenue Baptist Church in Boston, Massachusetts, quoted in C. H. Spurgeon, Mr. Spurgeon’s Jubilee: Report of the Proceedings at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Wednesday and Thursday Evenings, June 18th and 19th 1884 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, n.d.), 34.

11 Over the course of Spurgeon’s ministry, his Sunday morning sermons were edited and published. After his death in January 1892, Joseph Passmore and James Alabaster continued the process of revising and publishing the sermons Spurgeon had preached on Sunday evenings and throughout the week. An additional forty-fi ve sermons taken from The Baptist Messenger were published in 2009 (see Terence Peter Crosby, C. H. Spurgeon’s Sermons Beyond Volume 63, An Authentic Supplement to The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Day One Publications, 2009]).

11


David that took twenty years to complete. The sum of Spurgeon’s published words exceeded that of the famed 1875–89 ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.12

By 1857, Spurgeon’s sermons had doubled in sales.13 American tradeshows were selling a thousand copies of his books per minute.14 Copycats soon discovered that by using Spurgeon’s name they could generate revenue. An Irish gentleman who “passed himself off as Spurgeon”15 received royal treatment at a hotel. A lecturing con artist in Ohio claimed to be “E. H. Spurgeon,” the brother of Charles. When the audience confronted him, the gentleman “abruptly scooted” into anonymity.16

Even the Anglicans envied his success. By the mid-nineteenth century, it had become illegal (though rarely enforced) for established churches to conduct services in nonreligious spaces to crowds totaling more than twenty persons. In 1855, the Earl of Shaftesbury muscled the Religious Worship Bill17 through Parliament, enabling clergymen to “imitate Spurgeon.”18 Some tried but discovered that no one could generate the crowds the newfangled Baptist on New Park Street could marshal. Even the most spacious venues in the world’s largest city—the Surrey Garden Music Hall, Exeter Hall, and the Crystal Palace—could not adequately accommodate his ever-expanding audiences. In a letter to his brother, Spurgeon wrote, “I believe I could secure a crowded audience at dead of night in a deep snow.”19

By 1858, Americans returning from London faced two questions: “Did you see the queen?” and “Did you hear Spurgeon?”20 Victoria herself likely attended a sermon disguised in pedestrian garb, a behavior not uncommon to the queen.21

12 Eric W. Hayden, “Did You Know?” Christian History Issue 29. 2. In his Christian History article, Hayden notes the total number of volumes in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. In actuality, the ninth edition contains twenty-four volumes with the additional index volume, not twenty-seven volumes as indicated in Hayden’s research and John Piper’s article “Preaching Through Adversity” (John Piper, “Preaching Through Adversity,” Founder’s Journal, 23 [Winter 1996]). For more information, see www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/186618/Encyclopaedia-Britannica/2107/Ninth-edition; accessed May 18, 2016.

13 NPSP 3:preface. 14 “Upwards of 100,000 copies of Spurgeon’s sermons have been sold in the United States. On Wednesday

evening, at the trade sale, when the list of Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. was reached, 20,000 copies were sold in twenty-minutes. No book ever published in this country has had so large a sale” (Daily Confederation [vol. 1, no. 215]).

15 “A False Spurgeon at Limerick,” Daily National Intelligencer (August 30, 1861).16 “Splurgin’ by a Spurgeon,” Plain Dealer (November 7, 1857), 3. 17 See Edwin Hodder, The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, K. G. (London: Cassell & Company,

1887), 510–18. 18 Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church: An Ecclesiastical History of England (New York: Oxford University

Press, 1966), 1:525. 19 Autobiography 2:99. 20 A. P. Peabody, “Spurgeon,” North American Review 86 (1858), 275. 21 Autobiography 4:183. On November 2, 1873, Victoria attended a Presbyterian service in a church at Crathie,

Scotland. Unnoticed, she “stepped quietly among the communicants” (Chadwick, 2:320–21).

12

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Spurgeon constantly switched hats among pastor, president, editor, author, and traveling evangelist. The once-dwindling congregation on New Park Street soon became the largest in Protestant Christendom and had to move to a larger building, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, which eventually baptized nearly 15,000 members,22 maintained weekly attendances of 6,000 people, and, by June 1884, had spawned sixty-six parachurch ministries, including a theological college, two orphanages, a book fund, a clothing drive, a Sunday school for the blind, nursing homes, and ministries to policemen, among dozens more.23 Much of the revenue generated by his sermon sales was funneled back into these ministries. Unlike his much wealthier Roman Catholic contemporary Henry Edward Manning, Spurgeon died with only £2,000 to his name.24

In many ways Spurgeon represented the ideals of his day. He was “manly,”25 ambitious, entrepreneurial, well connected, well written, infl uential, and heavily involved in politics. In 1880, he single-handedly swung an election in favor of his favorite candidate.26 One biographer described him as “not a reed to be shaken by the wind, but a wind to shake the reeds.”27 And indeed, his religious and social infl uence is diffi cult to overestimate. To borrow from one of David Bebbington’s widely accepted distinctives of evangelicals, Spurgeon was deeply invested in social reform, an activist fi lled with “eagerness to be up and doing.”28 This impulse resulted in his combat against opium trading in the East, anti-Semitism in the North, economic poverty in the South, and human traffi cking in the West.

Nowhere was Spurgeon’s opposition to slavery more pronounced than in Thomas L. Johnson’s memoir, Twenty-Eight Years a Slave. Johnson overheard his

22 The archives of the Metropolitan Tabernacle contain unpublished interview questions for those who were baptized under Spurgeon’s ministry.

23 C. H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle: Its History and Work (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1990), 7. 24 “Mrs. Spurgeon has communicated to the Baptist the fact that the money left by Mr. Spurgeon was really

about £2,000. The £10,643 represented by the probate of his will covers a life insurance policy for £1,000, with bonus additions, and the valuations of all Mr. Spurgeon’s copyrights; also the furniture, library, and other effects at Westwood. These items in themselves amount to over £8,000. Mrs. Spurgeon will not continue to reside in Westwood” (“Mr. Spurgeon’s Property,” The Nottingham Evening Post [March 31, 1892]).

25 “Ministerial Elocution,” The Boston Recorder (August 21, 1862), 133. 26 Albert R. Meredith, “The Social and Political Views of Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1834–1892” (PhD

diss., Michigan State University, 1973), 66–67. See also Christian T. George, “How Would Spurgeon Vote?” (The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, December 17, 2015; accessed May 18, 2016, www.erlc.com/article/how-would-spurgeon-vote).

27 William Williams, Spurgeon: Episodes and Anecdotes of His Busy Life: With Personal Reminiscences by Thomas W. Handford (Chicago: Morrill, Higgins, 1892), 10. This phrase, attributed to John the Baptist in Matt 11:7 and Luke 7:24, was commonly used throughout Victorian literature.

28 David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody (Leicester: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 36.

13


masters in Virginia talking about Spurgeon, though the preacher “did not stand very high”29 in their estimations. After his emancipation in 1865, Johnson traveled to Denver, Colorado, where he encountered Spurgeon’s pamphlet “Preachers’ Prayers.” Johnson wrote, “No book that I possessed at the time, apart from the Bible, gave me such assistance.”30 He then traveled to London to meet Spurgeon and enrolled as a student in the Pastors’ College before becoming a missionary to Africa.

Spurgeon was not the only notable preacher in the nineteenth century. It was, after all, the era of “sermon tasting.”31 Saint Paul’s Cathedral had Henry Liddon. Westminster Chapel claimed G. Campbell Morgan. City Temple boasted of Joseph Parker. Baptists like Alexander Maclaren and John Clifford also achieved notoriety but not to the international extent of Spurgeon. Had he desired it, Spurgeon could have launched a denomination and almost inadvertently did.32

His sermons were translated into nearly forty languages including German, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Portuguese.33 A diaspora of documents circumnavi-gated the world—books, commentaries, pamphlets, and magazines. The affordable “penny pulpits” were found in the hands of fi shermen in the Mediterranean, coffee farmers in Sri Lanka, sailors in San Francisco, and even Catholics on pilgrimage. In May 1884, a Chinese Christian preferred to “go without a meal than miss this spiritual food.”34 After fi fty to sixty troops of the 73rd Regiment handled one of his sermons in India, they returned the manuscript “all black and fringed.”35 D. L. Moody once commented, “It is a sight in Colorado on Sunday to see the miners come out of the bowels of the hills and gather in the schoolhouses or under the trees while some old English miner stands up and reads one of Charles Spurgeon’s

29 Thomas L. Johnson, Twenty-Eight Years a Slave; or, the Story of My Life in Three Continents (London: Christian Workers’ Depot, 1909), 102.

30 Ibid., 69. 31 Robert H. Ellison, The Victorian Pulpit: Spoken and Written Sermons in Nineteenth-Century Britain (London:

Associated University Press, 1998), 44. 32 See “Spurgeonism Again” (ST June 1866:281–84); “Spurgeonism,” The Nation (June 13, 1857) 9; and

“Spurgeonism,” Dundee, Perth, and Cupar Advertiser (April 2, 1861). 33 Autobiography 4:291. Translations of Spurgeon’s sermons include: Die Wunder unfres Hernn und Heilandes in 52

Predigten von C. H. Spurgeon (Hamburg: Verlagsbuchhandling von J. B. Oncken Machfolger, 1897); Walda Predifningar af C. H. Spurgeon, Brebifant mib Metropolitan Tabernacle i London (Stockholm: B. Balmqmifts Förlag, 1867); and Pulpito Metropolitano Do Revdo Carlos Haddon Spurgeon (Spurgeon Scrapbooks, comp. Susannah Spurgeon, Heritage Room, Spurgeon’s College, London).

34 ST May 1884:246. 35 ST October 1879:496.

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sermons.”36 In Australia an escaped convict was converted to Christianity after reading a “blood-stained” sermon looted from the pocket of his murdered victim.37

Spurgeon’s popularity was meteoric and expansive, and when coupled with the geographical trajectory of his teenage years, the silhouette of an ideal Victorian takes shape. With the invention of steam locomotion, industrial opportunities pulled England’s population out of the farms and into the factories. By 1859, half of London’s citizens under the age of twenty had been born outside the city.38 Spurgeon’s transition to London mimicked the population distribution of the day. As a nineteen-year-old, he too transitioned from the pastoral landscapes of Cambridgeshire to the factory-fogged neighborhoods of the metropolis.

The city offered Spurgeon more resources and opportunities than could the country. The global reach of his sermons would not have been possible had he remained in Waterbeach. Nor would he have met his publishers, Joseph Passmore and James Alabaster. Spurgeon never sought a transition to London, but four years after being baptized in the meandering stream of Isleham, he moored his ministry to the southern bank of the well-traffi cked Thames, the waters of which opened directly into the sea.

36 William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1900), 456. 37 Cranfi ll, 29. 38 Chadwick, The Victorian Church, 1:325.

15


THE SERMONS

NOTEBOOK 1 (SER MONS 1–77 )


F R O N T C O V E R O F N O T E B O O K 1

49


S E R M O N 3

80


3

A BR A H A M J UST IF IED by FA ITH1

Genesis 15:62

“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

I. THE FACT. “ beli eved God.” 3

Leaving his Country.4 Life in Canaan. Sodom.5 Isaac’s birth.6 Promises to him.7 Isaac’s Sacrifi ce.8

Two9 Sorts10 of Faith: 1. Historical, or Dead Faith.11

2. Living Faith, producing works.12

II. THE RESULT. “ counted to him for r ighteousness .”13

1. Sins forgiven.14 } by faith2. Righteousness imputed.15

And by it: He gained on earth God’s favour and love.16 He gained Heaven and Eternal Life.

These bring: Peace. How easy lies the head that does no ill.17

Love. When we are pure we love God. Joy. The Justifi ed person has. Comfort. All things work together for good.18

Security. None can condemn nor destroy.19

III. AS ABR AHA M WAS SAVED, SO MUST WE BE.

Not by works, or Abraham would have been. Not by ceremonies. Abram believed before20 circumcision.21

Reasons why we should believe God, both22 sinner and Christian, and exhortations to it.23

A B R A H A M J U S T I F I E D B Y F A I T H — G e n e s i s 1 5 : 6

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S E R M O N 3

1. Susannah included a transcription of this sermon in Autobiography 1:216. Her al-terations include the following changes: The words “believed God” in the fi rst Roman numeral and “counted to him for righteousness” in the second were re-moved from Charles’s original wording and aligned with the KJV’s wording of Gen 15:6. The word “And” in the phrase “And by it” was deleted. The phrase “on earth” was deleted from the sentence “He gained on earth God’s favour and love.” An exclamation mark was added after the word “ill” in the sentence “How easy lies the head that does no ill.” The line “Joy. The Justifi ed person has” was changed to “Joy. The justifi ed person has true joy.” The fi nal line, “Reasons why we should believe God, both sinner and Christian, and exhortations to it,” was changed to

“Reasons why sinners and Christians should believe God; exhortation to faith.” See also Susannah’s transcription of the previous two sermons, “Adoption” (Sermon 1) and “Necessity of Purity for an Entrance to Heaven” (Sermon 2).

2. In 1868, Charles preached an additional sermon on Gen 15:6 entitled “Justifi cation by Faith—Illustrated by Abram’s Righteousness” (MTP 14, Sermon 844). Overlapping content exists; however, the lack of structural similarities suggests Charles did not follow the general contours of the sermon above. The sermon that most resembles the outline above is “Abraham, a Pattern to Believers” (MTP 39, Sermon 2292). However, in this case also, there is not enough overlap to suggest Charles had the above outline in mind while writing his later sermon. For additional sermons on Abraham, see

“The Call of Abraham” (Notebook 3, Sermon 152); “The Call of Abraham” (NPSP

5, Sermon 261); “Hearken and Look; or, Encouragement for Believers” (MTP 27, Sermon 1596); and “Sarah and Her Daughters” (MTP 27, Sermon 1633).

3. The phrase “believed God” does not come from Gen 15:6. Charles was quoting instead Rom 4:3, “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

4. Cf. Gen 12:1; Heb 11:8. 5. Cf. Gen 18:16–33. 6. Cf. Gen 21:5.

7. Cf. Gen 12:2–3; 13:14–17; 17:2–8; 22:17–18. 8. Cf. Gen 22:1–18.

9. Charles wrote the number 2 instead of the word “two.” He may have originally intended this number to represent the second point in a list as seen beneath the second Roman numeral. However, for reasons that are unclear, he used the number 2 to represent the word “two” in the phrase “Two Sorts of Faith.”

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10. The letter “h” was added to the end of the word “Sort.” Charles changed the “h” to “s.”

11. Cf. Jas 2:17, 26. 12. Cf. Eph 2:10.

13. The phrase “counted to him for righteousness” does not come from Gen 15:6. Charles again quoted Rom 4:3, “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” For an additional example, see “Necessity of Purity for an Entrance to Heaven” (Sermon 2).

14. “While the promise is still in his ears, while the ink is yet wet in the pen of the Holy Spirit, writing him down as justifi ed, he must see a sacrifi ce, and see it, too, in emblems which comprehend all the revelation of sacrifi ce made to Aaron” (MTP 14:682).

15. Cf. “Jehova Tsidkenu—the Lord Our Righteousness” (MTP 7, Sermon 395).

16. Charles may have intended this line to read “He gained on earth” or “He gained on earth God’s favour and love.” Given the emphasis on “Heaven” in the line beneath, the former interpretation is more likely.

17. The phrase “How easy lies the head that does no ill” may have been infl uenced by William Shakespeare (1564–1616): “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” (William Shakespeare, King Henry IV [Arden ed.; ed. A. R. Humphreys; London: Thomson Learning, 2007; repr., London: Methuen & Co., Ltd, 1981], 2:91). Throughout his ministry Charles evidenced a familiarity with Shakespeare’s works. His friend and biographer W. Williams reminisced, “We had several talks, on different occasions, about Shakespeare. He had read all his plays, and some of them many times” (Autobiography 4:284; see also W. Williams, Personal

Reminiscences of Charles Haddon Spurgeon [2nd ed.; New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1895], 81). For Charles’s personal copy of Shakespeare, see William Shakespeare, The Poetical Works of William Shakespeare and the Earl of Surrey: With Memoirs, Critical

Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes (ed. George Gilfi llan; Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1856, The Spurgeon Library).

18. Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

19. Cf. Rom 8:34.

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20. Charles did not include the letter “e” in the word “before.” He likely intended to abbreviate the entire phrase “before circumcision.”

21. Abbr., “circumcision.”

22. The letter “y” was written beneath “o” in the word “both.” Charles may have origi-nally written the word “by” before changing it to “both.”

23. The phrase “and exhortations to it” was a reminder as to how to conclude the fi nal remarks of this sermon. A similar phrase, “Call to enter in by faith in Jesus Christ,” is found at the conclusion of the previous sermon, “Necessity of Purity for an En-trance to Heaven” (Sermon 2). See also Charles’s use of the word “Directions” at the conclusion of “An Answer Required” (Sermon 19) and in “Making Light of Christ” (Sermon 21).

84


S E R M O N 1 4

142


14

GOD’S GR ACE GI V EN to US1 1 Corinthians 15:102

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which

was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly

than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

I. HOW A L L M AY SAY T H IS? “By the grace of God I am,” etc. Birth, Bodies, Minds, Temporal Mercies, Means of Grace,3 and Liberty.

II. T HE GR ACE GI V EN T O SA I N TS A L ON E .4 In Election,5 Redemption,6 Conversion,7 Pardon,8 Justifi cation,9 Adoption,10 Support,11 Spirit,12 Perseverance.13

III. THE GR ACE GI V EN TO THE SIN NER . Longsuffering,14 sparing, delivering grace. Restraining Grace,15 and shining grace.16

1. Think much on grace, Christian.

2. Live showing gratitude.17

3. Be humble.18 ’Tis all grace.

1. Sinner, be thankful.

2. Repent.

3. Remember, Judgment comes on apace.19

Hythe. July 1/[18]5120

22. 336.

G O D ’ S G R A C E G I V E N T O U S — 1 C o r i n t h i a n s 1 5 : 1 0

143


S E R M O N 1 4

1. The doctrine of grace played a signifi cant role in Charles’s theology. He said, “Of the things which I have spoken unto you these many years, this is the sum. Within the circle of these words my theology is contained, so far as it refers to the salvation of men. I rejoice also to remember that those of my family who were ministers of Christ before me preached this doctrine, and none other. My father, who is still able to bear his personal testimony for his Lord, knows no other doctrine, neither did his father before him” (MTP 61:469). For additional treatments of the doctrine of grace, see “The Certainty and Freeness of Divine Grace” (MTP 10, Sermon 599); C. H. Spurgeon, All of Grace (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1886, The Spurgeon Library); and John B. Hall, “The Application of the Doctrine of Grace in the Life and Ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon” (master’s thesis, Covenant Theological Seminary, 1982).

2. Charles preached two additional sermons on 1 Cor 15:10: “Lessons on Divine Grace” (MTP 49, Sermon 2833) and “Paul’s Parenthesis” (MTP 54, Sermon 3084). Neither sermon contains enough overlapping content or structural similarity to suggest Charles had the above outline in mind when writing these later sermons.

3. For Charles, the concept “means of grace” included the following practices: observ-ing the Sabbath, baptism, partaking in the Lord’s Supper, preaching, prayer, and the study of Scripture (see MTP 30:204 and 35:438). Charles believed that “sick-ness is also a means of grace: those who have much grace may be called to endure much disease” (MTP 35:199). In his sermon “By the Fountain,” Charles said, “Ev-ery means of grace may be denied the believer, but the grace of the means will still come to him” (MTP 35:608). Additional uses of the phrase “means of grace” are found in “Satan and His Devices” (Notebook 2, Sermon 122), “Continue in Prayer” (Notebook 4, Sermon 220), and “The Lord Reigneth” (Notebook 8, Sermon 371).

4. “The very marrow of the gospel lies in special, discriminating, distinguishing grace. As for your universal grace, let those have it who care for such meatless bones; but the special gospel of electing love, of distinguishing grace, this is the gospel which is like butter in a lordly dish to a child of God, and he that has once fed on it will take no meaner fare” (MTP 13:429). See also “Distinguishing Grace” (NPSP 5, Sermon 262).

5. Cf. Rom 11:5. See also “Election” (Sermon 10).

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6. Cf. Eph 1:7.

7. Cf. Rom 10:9. See also “The Dying Thief in a New Light” (MTP 32, Sermon 1881).

8. Cf. 1 John 1:9.

9. Cf. Rom 5:1. See also “Abraham Justifi ed by Faith” (Sermon 3).

10. Cf. Rom 8:17. See also “Adoption” (Sermon 1); “Love Manifest in Adoption” (Ser-mon 16); and “Offending God’s Little Ones” (Sermon 67).

11. Cf. Rom 8:26.

12. Cf. Acts 1:8. See Charles’s inscription “And only skeletons without the Holy Ghost” on the title page of this notebook, and also the fi nal stanza of the Doxology on the fi nal page.

13. Cf. Phil 1:6. See also “Final Perseverance” (Sermon 8).

14. Cf. Rom 2:4.

15. “We now see that the Lord held us back from plunging into the deepest abysses of sin. He would not let us commit crimes by which we might have ended our lives before conversion. He kept us back from sins which might have linked us in sad connections, and led us into such circumstances that we never might have been brought to hear his word, or seek his face at all” (MTP 32:438). In his autobiog-raphy, Charles revealed the signifi cance of the doctrine of restraining grace in his own spiritual development: “Through the Lord’s restraining grace, and the holy infl uence of my early home-life, both at my father’s and my grandfather’s, I was kept from certain outward forms of sin in which others indulged” (Autobiography

1:81). In his sermon “Amazing Grace,” Charles added, “I know that, if I was not permitted to indulge in grosser vices, yet I went as far as I could, and should have gone infi nitely farther if it had not been for his restraining grace” (MTP 22:102).

16. The reference to “shining grace” may have been inspired by Isaac Watts: “From the third heaven where God resides, / That holy happy place, / The New Jerusalem comes down, / Adorn’d with shining grace” (Hymn 21 in The Works of the Reverend

and Learned Isaac Watts, D.D. Containing, Besides His Sermons, and Essays on Miscellaneous

145


S E R M O N 1 4

Subjects, Several Additional Pieces, Selected from his Manuscripts by the Rev. Dr. Jennings, and

the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, in 1753: To Which Are Prefi xed, Memoirs of the Life of the Author [6 vols.; comp., George Burder; London: John Barfi eld, 1810, The Spurgeon Library], 4:263). See also MTP 37:353.

17. Cf. 1 Thess 5:8. 18. Cf. Eph 4:2.

19. “Quick; speedily; used of things in motion” (Johnson’s Dictionary, s.v. “apace”). A modernized reading of this line is “Remember, judgment comes quickly.” Charles used the word “apace” throughout his ministry, e.g., “kings of armies fl ee apace” (MTP 23:227); “his legions fl y apace” (MTP 40:610); and the Day of Reckoning “cometh on apace” (ST August 1875:359). Susannah also used the word “apace” to describe her bourgeoning relationship with Charles: “From that time our friend-ship grew apace” (Autobiography 2:8). Of her children, Susannah wrote that they

“grew apace in the sweet country air” (Autobiography 2:291).

20. The number 2 was written beneath the bolded number 1.

146


392

S E R M O N 6 3


63

GETHSEM A NE ’S SOR ROW Matthew 26:381

“Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death:

tarry ye here, and watch with me.”

The Gardens2 of Eden and Gethsemane3 are places of great interest. Jesus retired and suffered temptation, both in the commencement4 and close of his public ministry. His human nature was perfect,5 both body and soul. They both suffered in the work of atonement.6

I. WE SHA LL CONSIDER A FEW OF THE CAUSES OF HIS GRIEF. Of course, the fi rst cause was his bearing the sins of his people and God’s wrath for sin.7

1. His ill treatment by the world,8 Unfaithfulness of friends,9 treachery of Judas,10 murder by the nations.11 Added to this, his heavenly love.12

2. The Shock13 given to his unsullied purity by his standing in the room of sinners14 and bearing their guilt away.15 About to be charged16 with blasphemy.17 And to be the innocent victim of cruel earthly, foulest crime.18

3. The Indignities he was about to endure in being sold as a slave,19 tried before the court,20 held up to public scorn, and ignominious21 death.

4. His foresight would increase the pain.22 Man cannot forsee, nor the brute, and happy is it. But Jesus could forsee it all. He could hear the rabble23 accusing him, feel the blinding cloth24 and their buffetings,25 Herod and his mighty men, the crown of thorns,26 the horrid fl agellation27 (soldier cutting his throat),28 the cry, “crucify him,”29 his going through the streets,30 fainting,31 nailing to the cross,32 forsaken of his God,33 his death.34

5. A sense of Loneliness, without help, Hopelessness. Certain was his death.35

II. THE REASON.36 TO SATISFY JUSTICE AND SAVE SINNERS.37

We may infer: 1. The Son’s and Father’s38 love to men.39

2. The Justice of God. 3. Man’s hardness of heart. 4.40 The sinner’s fearful doom.

86

G E T H S E M A N E ’ S S O R R O W — M a t t h e w 2 6 : 3 8

393


S E R M O N 6 3

1. This is the only time Charles preached a sermon on Matt 26:38. For additional sermons on Gethsemane, see “Gethsemane” (MTP 9, Sermon 493); “The Gar-den of the Soul” (MTP 12, Sermon 693); “The Agony in Gethsemane” (MTP 20, Sermon 1199); “Jesus in Gethsemane” (MTP 48, Sermon 2767); and “Christ in Gethsemane” (MTP 56, Sermon 3190).

2. Charles inserted an apostrophe between the letters “n” and “s” in the word “Gardens”; however, the context suggests he intended this word to be plural, not possessive.

3. A cluster of yellow stains surrounds the letter “G” in the word “Gethsemane.” The source of the stains can be found in the previous sermon, “God, the Guide of His Saints” (Sermon 62), and is likely the result of the aging process of the manuscript.

4. Cf. Matt 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13.

5. “[W]hatever Satan may have suggested to our Lord, his perfect nature did not in any degree whatever submit to it so as to sin” (MTP 9:76).

6. “[T]here was agony between the attributes of his nature, a battle on an awful scale in the arena of his soul. The purity which cannot bear to come into contact with sin must have been very mighty in Christ, while the love which would not let his people perish was very mighty too. It was a struggle on a Titanic scale, as if a Hercules had met another Hercules; two tremendous forces strove and fought and agonised within the bleeding heart of Jesus. . . . I marvel not that our Lord’s sweat was as it were great drops of blood, when such an inward pressure made him like a cluster trodden in the winepress” (MTP 20:597).

7. “The woe that broke over the Saviour’s spirit, the great and fathomless ocean of inexpressible anguish which dashed over the Saviour’s soul when he died, is so inconceivable . . . the very spray from that great tempestuous deep, as it fell on Christ, baptised him in a bloody sweat. He had not yet come to the raging billows of the penalty itself, but even standing on the shore, as he heard the awful surf breaking at his feet, his soul was sore amazed and very heavy” (MTP 20:594). Cf. 2 Cor 5:21.

8. Cf. John 15:18. 9. Cf. Matt 26:69–75.

10. Cf. Matt 26:47–49.

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G E T H S E M A N E ’ S S O R R O W — M a t t h e w 2 6 : 3 8

11. It is unclear why Charles bolded the letters “tions” in the word “nations.” The same pressure from his writing instrument can be found in the word “his” two lines above.

12. Cf. John 17:26.

13. An illegible letter, possibly “m,” appears beneath the letter “h” in the word “Shock.” Charles may have originally written the word “mock.”

14. Cf. 1 Pet 3:18. 15. Cf. Rom 8:3.

16. The letters “ed” in the word “charged” trail into the margin.

17. Cf. Matt 26:65. 18. Cf. Luke 23:41.

19. Cf. Matt 26:14–16. 20. Cf. Luke 23:7,11; John 18:19–24.

21. “Mean; shameful; reproachful; dishonourable” (Johnson’s Dictionary, s.v. “ignominious”).

22. With reference to Christ’s bleeding in Gethsemane, Charles wrote, “No need to put on the leech, or apply the knife; [his blood] fl ows spontaneously” (C. H. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning; or, Daily Readings for the Family or the Closet [New York: Sheldon and Company, 1866, The Spurgeon Library], March 23).

23. “A tumultuous crowd; an assembly of low people” (Johnson’s Dictionary, s.v. “rabble”).

24. Cf. Luke 22:64. 25. Cf. Mark 14:65.

26. Cf. Matt 27:29; John 19:2. 27. Cf. Matt 27:26; John 2:15.

28. Charles may have been referring to the Roman practice of cutting the necks of criminals. In Antiquities of the Jews, Roman-Jewish historian Josephus (AD 37–c. AD 100) recounted: “[Alexander] brought [the Jews] to Jerusalem, and did one of the most barbarous actions in the world to them: for as he was feasting with concubines, in the sight of all the city, he ordered about eight hundred of them to be crucifi ed, and while they were living, he ordered the throats of their children and wives to be cut before their eyes” (Flavius Josephus, The Works of

Flavius Josephus, the Learned and Authentic Jewish Historian, and Celebrated Warrior, to

395


S E R M O N 6 3

Which Are Added, Three Dissertations Concerning Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, James the

Just, God ’s Command to Abraham ([trans. William Whiston; 4 vols; London: William Allason and J. Maynard, 1818, The Spurgeon Library], 2:251).

29. Cf. Mark 15:13; Luke 23:21; John 19:15. 30. Cf. John 19:17.

31. Cf. Mark 15:21. 32. Cf. Luke 23:33; John 19:18.

33. Cf. Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34. 34. Cf. Matt 27:50; Luke 23:46.

35. Charles wrote the word “death” above the line. The handwriting in the phrase “was his death” differs from that in the body of the sermon and was likely added afterward. The word “certain” may have been coupled with “Hopelessness.” An alternative reading of this line is “Hopelessness [was] certain.”

36. Charles underscored the words “The Reason” with a line of dots and dashes.

37. “His bones are every one of them dislocated, and his body is thus torn with agonies which cannot be described. ’Tis manhood suffering there; ’tis the Church suffering there, in the substitute. And when Christ dies, you are to look upon the death of Christ, not as his own dying merely, but as the dying of all those for whom he stood as the scapegoat and the substitute. . . . When you die you will die for yourselves; when Christ died, he died for you, if you are a believer in him”

(NPSP 4:69). Cf. 1 Tim 1:15.

38. An illegible stroke, possibly the tittle of the letter “I,” can be found to the left of the apostrophe in the word “Father’s.”

39. Cf. John 3:16.

40. The em dash preceding the number 4 does not appear to hold signifi cance for the text. Cf. horizontal stroke to the right of the number 5, fi ve lines above.

396


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